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Appalachian Trail

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March 23, 2001

Today has been the longest day so far. 12 miles from Suches Gap to Blood Mountain. The hike up Blood Mountain wasn't nearly as bad as I'd heard. The climbs preceding it, however, deserve some mentioning in the guide book. Perhaps they consider it all one ascension.

Liddell and I hiked with Redneck today. She and I thought of trail names all day. We thought we were hilarious. Some of the best double names were Scrappy and Brass Knuckles, Just Say No to and Crack, Laverne and Shirley, Funny and Ha-ha, & Not So Much and Or At All. There were better ones, too. Buzzard, a fit 60-year-old man who talks non-stop, wanted to call us Ladle and Mermaid. I might be stuck with the name Noggin because I hit my head really hard on a rock outside of the shelter today. We're still contemplating. Together people know us as 2 Scoops of Fun.

Today was sunny and warm. We wore shorts as we sloshed through some remaining snow. We watched a beautiful sunset at Blood Mountain and cooked on top of a rock taller than the chimney of the shelter. (No heat, just an old caved-in fireplace.) We watched the stars with Hair Bomb and Jon, who didn't like any of the names that we created for him. As it closed in on our bedtime, Jon discovered a skunk that had taken up residence beneath the sleeping platform in the shelter. This led to scouting down the mountain and setting up tents after all. Not bad on this clear night.

Tomorrow we arrive at Neels Gap, our first food pick-up. A shower and clean laundry sound pretty exciting to me, though I kind of like the weight of my pack now without food in it. For those of you playing at home, I never weighed my pack, but I think it is somewhere in the mid-30s. Very reasonable, especially this early in the trip.

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